In Other Words

Archive for the ‘freelancing’ Category

Hooray! I knew there was a good reason for this long weekend. I mean, naturally I would rather have been swimming up to a bar in a Caribbean resort, or gallivating in gay Paris, but due to an unfortunately incapacitated dog (she overdid the swimming and enthusiastic jumping around at Point Petre yesterday, I think), I am home and surprisingly focused in spite of the lovely weather. (I knew this but perhaps not so much how Lucy dictates our lives! Who says I don’t have a child?)

Anyway. You may have read my rants about my Internet difficulties and my feelings toward EditQuest of late. Today I decided to take the bull by the horns and give him a good what for. I just couldn’t let all that hard work and enthusiasm lie down and take it. So what we have as a result is a cleaner theme here as well as a spiffy, and more importantly functioning, home for EditQuest.

On the right side of site you will notice two new things: a small ad square that links to the EditQuest page on this site and, FINALLY, practically a year later (but I had an excellent excuse), my ebook Publishing Fantasy Fiction! I’m still so proud of this baby. It’s free, so please feel free to download and either flip through it or use it or read it just for fun. I think it’s a great start for those wanting to publish, and not just fantasy fiction but any fiction, though the ebook does give particular references to fantasy publishers.

If there are any questions or comments regarding anything on this site, you know where to leave them. Everything should function well, but don’t be shy to point out anything out of order.

Maybe it’s the freedom of the long weekend (oh please can’t it last forever, or at least a few more days? I’m a changed person away from the clinic!), or maybe a renewed sense of purpose due to the friendly and genuine encouragement from my husband and some of you, but I’m feeling quite optimistic. Just making all this happen and being busy and productive has made me excited!

I’ve decided to take the advice of a few people whose opinions I respect and keep the dream of EditQuest alive.

Since I can’t fight back by fixing the accursed original site and ridding it of someone’s terrible intentions, I’ve taken some of the images and all the text and transported it here (thank goodness for saved stuff in folders). You will now find a new page on this blog called EditQuest (Copyediting and Proofreading).

I have to admit, this makes me feel quite a bit better about the enterprise, even though there is still the large glitch of editquest.com being the official and inoperable domain. Though I assume there weren’t many who visited the site anyway, I imagine it will be even harder to draw them here.

Regardless, here is the venture’s new abode. I’m not sure if anything will happen with it, but as Bernard Shaw wrote, you never can tell. The way I see it, I’ve nothing to lose. Not even my temper, now!

PS. The ebook is also available for free download in the sidebar!

A short day at the clinic today, which has such an effect on me that the relief is palpable every Tuesday night, the same way dread is palpable every Sunday evening at the prospect of the weekend coming to an end.

I love short days, and thankfully I get off at 2 every Wednesday and Friday. It makes the longer days, working from 11-7 or 9-6, much more bearable. A week of those days would likely do me in. Such a delicate flower, me. It’s not even so much the actual work or hours as the endless people pleasing.

When I’m working on proofing a book, short days at the clinic means more time to don my robe of academia (sounds like a magic article of clothing in a role-playing game, doesn’t it?) and thinking cap and, red pencil and eraser in hand, launch myself into the personal race to meet the deadline. Tonight, as I did this, setting aside the chapters that were my goal for the evening from the rest of the book, I once again wondered why, considering how much I don’t enjoy the material, considering the endless struggle to stay focused for more than one paragraph, considering the cursing and the pity parties I throw because I have no free time and it’s seemingly all up to me to keep us afloat (the antics, of course, of a control freak: it’s always all about me), considering all of this and more angst for over 6 years, I once again wondered why, as I was saying, I am still a freelance editor.

But I blocked the question from getting answered, since it would require wasting time, and since I’ve been wondering this for a few years and have not yet come up with the truth, and got back to proofing chapters on unions and equity and women in the workplace. Finding the last chapter of the day particularly clean and easy to read, considering the topic, and realizing that not working in my office and in front of my laptop leads to more productive work, I finished exactly one minute shy of my goal of 9:00 pm, after which I’d planned to settle down with my current novel, Nino Ricci’s The Origin of Species (which I’m very much enjoying during what little time I can eke out here and there, say, on the toilet, brushing my teeth, the few minutes before C comes to bed).

Glass of water, check. Treasured, lovely-looking, wonderful-smelling novel, check. Faux-fur blanket, check. I settled into my chair in my wee and cozy library and got down to it for maybe one minute before I decided to read in the bath.

Which leads me to the title of this post. There’s something about a bathroom that makes it oddly conducive to answering long-standing questions or experiencing epiphanies of epic proportions. In the bathroom, one ruminates on the everyday questions of what one should do with a relationship in trouble, how one should decline an invitation to a neighbour’s dinner one has no desire whatsoever to attend, what one should say to his or her boss in asking for a raise, what one should write for their paper/novel/dissertation/article, etc. In the bathroom, one ruminates on philosophic questions such as the meaning of life, or why one conducts oneself the way one does, or why, for instance, one might continue to do something one has long ago decided one does not like.

It was in the bathtub I asked myself the question once again as to why I still freelance. Why have I decidedly asserted several times over the past years that I will no longer accept books but then still accepted them as they were offered to me? Why do I continue to hold on to the task when it poses such problems, causes such misery? My answers over time have been that I can’t refuse a book because of money, because I don’t want to disappoint my clients, because I cling to the idea of having a backup for work, sort of like a security blankie, because I worked hard to get where I am with my clients, and because I simply can’t say no. I think there is some truth to all of these answers, even if the third one, the backup for work, seems unfounded (I’ve never wanted for a job).

Yet this evening, as I read my novel and savoured the writing and became conscious of how much I adore being a part of this world even if only as a reader and educated English student and informal book critic, a new answer came to me. I came across an error in the book and thought about the copyeditor and the proofreader and then about how fantastic it would be to edit or proof the novels of authors I greatly admire. I pictured myself working at Random House, and taking pride in that, in being a part of that collective publishing world.

Eureka! Yes, I suddenly had the answer to why I have been unable to stick to my decision (the one I’ve made at least a dozen times) to quit editing. I think it’s because I think highly of this line of work. It has some prestige to it. It has some romance, some glamour to it. I take pride in it. More than that, I feel it links me to the world of which I’ve always longed to be an intrinsic part, of which I feel I am an intrinsic part, by my very nature. That is to say, working on books in this way, even if on academic subjects I have no interest in, being a part in some way of producing a book, makes me feel as though I’m doing something relevant to me. I’m somewhat being true to me, even in a roundabout smallish way — as opposed to editing Governor General Award-winning fiction, say.

This feels like truth to me, though it doesn’t actually free me to quit being a freelance editor. I have to admit, if my friend who’s the managing editor at UOP asked me to edit a book on a literary symposium, for instance, I’d have a difficult time saying no.

So I’ve figured out why, mainly, I can’t say no to these jobs. The next question for the bathtub, then, since I’m pretty sure I need to stop editing academic books, is, how do I get past that to finally let go of the job? How do I free myself?

The moment you’ve all been waiting for (at least, the moment I’ve been antsy-pants waiting for) has arrived!!

EditQuest is now live. There may be a bit of tweaking still that has to be done, but we’ll play along and find that stuff out as we go. For now, the place looks so great I feel as though I’m in a dream. This weekend has been a very full three days of non-stop work and chatting with Harry, my husband, and Brett, and now I am able to present you my baby. My new venture.

Oh My GOD!!

I almost can’t believe it, honestly.

As much as this is suddenly going to sound like a corny awards speech, I feel compelled to mention a few thanks. Without Harry, this site would not look the fantabulous way it does. From the excellent and very fun RSS button that I can’t stop mousing over for fun to the sexy customized ad space and ad banner I can advertise with myself to pretty much everything else, Harry has put out what I think is his finest work and, best of all, exactly what I was looking for. Much labour went into this site, and Harry spent a good deal of time being patient with me and making sure everything was okay. I am so grateful for his insight and expertise. His business partner, James, turned me in the right direction as to what I needed to do and how I needed to think as a business person. Without his suggestions, patience, and leadership, I wouldn’t be doing this right at all.

Tei Lindstrom wrote the majority of the web copy for me. The copyeditor as guide to the writer hero was her concept, and I am so grateful for her ideas, coaching, writing skills, and flexibility. I was especially impressed by her knack of pulling out just what I was trying to say and her ability to refine it and make it consistent.

Brett Legree has been by my side in the online world pretty much every step of the way. From his unconditional never-ending encouragement to his techie guidance and constant offers to help tweak or upload or resize images to our exciting business venture ideas over virtual cups of tea, Brett has been the Sam to my Frodo. I feel indebted and very blessed. I owe much thanks to him, as well, for the name of EditQuest.

To Sean, aka Writer Dad – for his enthusiastic cheering and especially for his very excellent tagline, which has caused reactions like “Ooohhh, I loovvvve the ‘your words bring adventure, we bring the map!’  Positively brilliant!!!” (That’s a real quote, from my sister Anne.)

To all of you readers here and to those who don’t frequent here but whom I treasure in the “real world”: to my friends. Thank you so much for understanding my intermittent silence, my freak outs, my self-doubt, my fear. For being interested in this. For fielding my questions on what to do or pre-reading my text or ebook. Thanks for your encouragement, support, and knowledge. For those who do read, In Other Words won’t go away with the birth of EditQuest, as you’ve so nicely requested; I’m very happy to be here and privileged to have such wonderful people on my side. Please, do let me know what you think of the site, if you have any problems, if you find any errors, etc. You will notice the ebook is not up yet – but that’s what I’m working on today. It’s not finished, and I’d rather not rush it.

Never least, to my hubby, Colin, who has been through and heard every little idea, frustration, triumph — every single detail of the process of EditQuest, from conception to now. Thank you for listening, for being patient, for sending me constant emails on how to do stuff and what to do and what to focus on and how to price things, etc. Thank you for cheering me on, letting me be, knowing when not to let me be. Thank you for sitting with me for hours to figure out how to upload stuff. Thank you for being excited with me. For expanding my vision of this, for wanting me to succeed. For pushing me to do it. For everything. You and Lucy are my reason.

Without further ado, then, I give you all

www.editquest.com

I’d love to hear what you think or to answer any questions you have.

THANK YOU.

I can honestly say, with pleasure, that I haven’t been so single-minded in a long time. Whereas before I was working, blogging, reading blogs, surfing the Net, etc., now that I still don’t have work and am able to devote time to EditQuest, everything else has easily been put on hold.

I don’t read your blogs as often, I don’t comment as often, I don’t surf what I don’t have to, I check the phone number on call display and throw the phone aside, I forget to eat. I walk the dog, do laundry, cook dinner on autopilot. I don’t hear what my neighbours are saying outside. I’ve shut something down, it seems, and think and eat and breathe EditQuest. I sit on the grass in the morning, Lucy’s head in my lap, or watching her wriggle around happily on her back or repeatedly barf creek water and reeds, and I watch spiders trek the green jungle underneath. All the while I’m thinking of EditQuest. I feel, for the most part, lost in details. I feel oddly free.

The predominant vision I keep is the launch of my new site, which I eagerly look forward to. Staring all the time at my awesome theme (as you can see, I found an image in the file Harry sent!), how could I not? I might not wait until the ebook is finished. I think of new clients, editing stories I enjoy, getting even better at what I do, the sense of accomplishment and cheer when I make someone happy, when I offer something of value. I think of being busy doing what I want to do. I also hope to get past this scary financial time we’re going through.

The fact that I am so focused seems to be a good thing. It means to me that I’m on the right path. It’s not as though I’m not taking care of myself. I still shower and eat some things and take in sunshine and read with Colin before bed. Although, I’ve been boiling water at least three times and forgeting about it before I remember I was going to make tea.

And I know I will catch up with your blogs again. I miss you when I don’t. I know I will find something more interesting to blog about eventually, too, even though not leaving the house and having ditched my hole-in-the-crotch jeans, I can’t think of anything amusing to write. I’m sure one of these days one of Friar’s posts will trigger a memory that will make me want to write something different, but at the very least, when EQ is up and running, I will be able to get back to my personal development posts people seem to like. Right now, I’m learning and developing, doing my research and helping fellow blogger-writers who know what I do, but I’m enjoying it, not tormented. Kind of like getting exercise without trying, like going hiking instead of working out at a gym.

Today Writer Dad shot me a tagline I’m considering might be IT. If so, that will be really cool — my business name from Brett, and my tagline from Sean. (I’m glad I suck at my own promotion.)

What do you think of this:

EditQuest: Your words bring adventure. We bring the map.

from eatmywords.com

Just before starting on the ebook again today, I visited Naomi’s blog and read her tagline post, which led me to an archived entry where a gazillion people came up with taglines for IttyBiz. It was hilarious, to say the least. And the brainstorming was incredible.

That’s when I remembered: Shit. I don’t have a tagline yet! Oh yeah.

James has already suggested two:

EditQuest: Your quest for editing perfection has just been fulfilled.

EditQuest: Where the quest for a fantasy editor ends – and your novel begins.

I like the second one best, but I don’t want to rule out people who have other writing than novels. I have to read James’s post yet on tagline development (on Copyblogger), but I’m already thinking, after his and Kelly’s exchange on IttyBiz, that I have to keep his stashed novel in mind because he epitomizes my clients.

Kelly’s tagline was:

EditQuest: Fantasy editing. Real publishing advice. Your journey begins here.

James said that writers want the journey to end, not begin. By the time they’ve got a book written, they just want to be finished already! So “your journey ends here” is really a nice one, actually. But then, it doesn’t really. I’m just the midpoint. I have to tell them they have a ways to go yet, but at least I can guide them there. Editor and consultant, remember? Get your professional handholding here.

The other thing is, fantasy editor/ing seems to be ambiguous. For some reason, friends are thinking that I mean I’m starting the business I’ve always dreamed of, the fantasy I have for editing. Or that I’m the editor they’ve always dreamed of, their fantasy editor, rather than editor of fantasy. Mind you, being someone’s fantasy editor isn’t necessarily a bad thing…

EditQuest: Where the editor lets it all hang out. (That’s a fantasy, isn’t it?)

Kidding.

James says that when coming up with a tagline, I have to focus on the benefits of my site, or of me, I guess. The tagline needs to say what’s in it for the clients.

And because self-promotion’s always been extremely hard for me, I’m tagging you.

You’re it! What can you come up with to help me?

A pile of writing and publishing books sits in front of me on my desk. I’ve scrawled a few notes (more scratched out than not) in my “Publish or Perish” notebook before putting down my pencil and thinking, I can’t do this. I feel like a fraud!

How many times have I said that? (How many times have you?)

I’m trying to do several things that have to be ready for the EditQuest launch (okay, first: I LOVE my new name! Every time I see it I get excited. I just spent over an hour seeing it written in different fonts, thanks to Kelly!). I have to write an ebook on publishing, a workbook on fantasy character or world development (haven’t yet decided which), draft posts for the EQ blog, draft guest posts, and compile an email list for the marketing blast. The list part is easy. The rest is not.

Naturally overwhelmed, I’ve decided to focus on the ebook first, on how to get published, because it’s an integral part of my purpose as an editor. To what end do I exist if not to help make writing publishable, if not to help writers accomplish their dream of seeing their words in print?

My goal is to encourage writers, make the process less intimidating, point them in the right direction, hold their hands while they find their voices, their confidence, their places on the shelves or hard drives of others. I’m not only an editor, I said to my hubby this afternoon, I am a consultant. Oh GOD!

This goal for EditQuest excites me to no end, but it frightens me, too. Who am I? Can I live up to such lofty aspirations? Will I disappoint these vulnerable writers? I understand their doubt and fears: those feelings are like mine, the very ones I’ve written about here many times. I know fantastic writers who stash (or hide) manuscripts in their underwear drawers, not sure what to do next. Who am I to tell them what to do, to take their money? What if I screw up?

The Facts

I have been reading fantasy for as long as I can remember. I was very young when I was first intrigued by magic and Faerie, dragons and elves. I forged my love affair with Bilbo Baggins during daily reading sessions in the cemetery under a tree next to my school. I was in grade three.

Since then, I’ve read and amassed a nice fantasy collection on my bookshelves. I do have a general idea of what makes a good fantasy story. I graduated with an English honours degree and I’ve certainly analyzed my share of novels and stories. I’ve taken writing and editing courses and workshops. I’m a member of the Editors’ Association of Canada. I read Men with Pens every day.

I’ve been editing for about fifteen years now, have had my business since 2003. I’ve worked in libraries, Chapters, a publishing house, and I’ve had countless clients (including fantasy writers) from university presses to local businesses to the government to media and printing companies to post-grad students to shy new authors.

I’ve edited and project managed hundreds of books, walked and talked and handheld authors from contract to finished product. Independent writers who have approached me have indeed been published. And I really do know books.

Yet I still feel unqualified. With EditQuest I’m choosing to help young and inexperienced authors, writers who might have been rejected several times but who have received positive feedback and don’t know what to do with it, or those who have never submitted because they haven’t a clue how to go about it. I’m going to be helping people who have tentatively pulled out and dusted off their manuscripts, who have handed them over to me with hopeful words, bewildered looks, and shy disclaimers. Atop their manuscripts sit their beating hearts: please, help me, take care of me.

I know I’m not guaranteeing anyone will be published when I help them. But knowing the hope and vulnerability they’ll have puts a great responsibility on me. I need to live up to that! I know I can give a listening ear, encouragement, their hand a squeeze. I know I can copy edit their stories. But can I deliver all I say I will?

The Real Issue

Even experts experience self-doubt. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, wrote that she had a strong mantra of THIS SUCKS running through her head while she was writing it. (I laughed aloud when I read that: it’s one of my favourite books ever.) She published at least three other books before Eat, Pray, Love and countless articles for magazines and newspapers. She was already successful enough that the book had been commissioned with a very substantial advance.

Considering my practical experience, this doubt, this feeling like a fraud, seems a personal issue, which, dammit, is the hardest to fix. Were I lacking in experience and knowledge, I’d just go get it and put off the site till then. That problem would be easily fixed, a matter of networking and lots of research and working relevant jobs.

Of course, I’ll gain further experience and knowledge in the fantasy field as I go. It’s true that I haven’t been editing fantasy for twenty years, but I know how to edit. And I personally, intimately know what it is to want to be published, to write but be overwhelmed, to doubt, to fear, to wish.

Like writers, as an editor getting ready to switch gears, I fight the inner battle that may actually never really be won. Over the last week, I’ve read sites discouraging writers from hiring an independent editor, focusing on the nasty frauds we can be. I’ve read about editors who have twenty-five years in the business. I’ve read the doubt of friends who think I should be a published author myself first, who wonder about my capability as a manuscript critiquer because they don’t know if I’ve done it before or not.

The trick, I know, is to keep fighting, to not give up. The trick is to be self-forgiving. To not pre-reject myself. To let THEM (my clients) decide whether or not I’m good enough, whether or not I deserve to do this.

Today, this is how I’ll push myself: I have the coolest business name. I’ve told people about it. I’m good at what I do. There are writers out there waiting for me, writers with dreams I can help come true.

If I take my cue from the fantasy heroine, I’ll sheath my pen and journey hard, however much I stumble.

What I love about the freelancing life is that I stay at home. I don’t have to wear makeup, do my hair, or even dress in “appropriate” clothing. I can wear what I want, even if it has stains on it.

Needless to say, this fosters a pretty lax attitude in me altogether, and since my neighbour across the street sees fit to parade around in either her housedress or a short nightie, I see no harm in what I wear.

Every single day, Lucy and I go for a jaunt around our neighbourhood. I think people are pretty familiar with us by now, most of them are at home all day as well. As one man on our street said, we’re all either newlywed or nearly dead. So most around here are retired or stay-at-home parents.

Today is muggy and overcast, with a humidex factor of 35 Celsius (no clue what that is in American). Neverthelss, as usual, Lucy and I set out.

I walk very fast, everywhere I go, no matter what. I just do. I do it because that’s how I am but also because I like the exercise. And today I did it because we’re expecting a thunderstorm and it felt imminent when we stepped out.

The first person we passed gave me a strange look after I bent down to pick up Lucy’s business. I thought it was perhaps because they’d watched my look of distaste and heard me comment on her inability to keep things more or less solid. (I talk to Lucy a lot when we’re walking. Any time, in fact.) But no.

Upon looking down I noticed that my somewhat low v-neck tee-shirt was hanging a little askew and the view, shall we say, was perhaps less than modest because I am wearing a worn-out bra that’s also a bit too small now.

To make matters worse, I caught the passer’s glance downward, and with a rush of embarrassment suddenly remembered I was wearing my Holy Jeans, the ones with the nicely formed hole at the crotch. Yes, my blue and green striped underwear was showing. Miraculously — thankfully — there are no holes in the underwear.

I walked on, faster than ever, adjusting myself while flinging around a less than opaque bag of dog poo and trying to hold the leash at the same time. I did see the humour in this, however, and was grinning like an idiot as I passed the next person and cheerfully said rather loudly to Lucy, as a clap of thunder sounded overhead, “Walk fucker!”

Of course, I meant faster. But the poor passerby hurried off before I could explain.

As some of you already know, I’m at the naming stage of getting my fantasy editor biz going, and in that spirit I thought I’d post a few choices I’ve come up with thus far. You’ll see an obvious trend happening, and it’s because specific fantasy-related words do quite well as far as how often they’re searched. Also, I’ve been wisely instructed to be clear, not clever. This means Editor or Editing will likely be in the name, because I can’t think of any clearer words to say what I do. By no means, however, is my list of choices below IT. If you have any ideas, please don’t hold back! I’m sure there are words I haven’t thought of. Your perspective would be great!

Keeping in mind the very interesting conversation about my target market in the comments at my “Fantasy Freak” post a couple of days ago, I have come up with these names so far:

• QuestEditing
• WriteQuest Editing
• MagicMarks Editing
• WordQuest Editing
• SharpSword Editing
• MagicQuest Editing
• Magiquest Editing
• SpellQuest Editing
• PubQuest Editing
• TrollQuest Editing (Er, troll or tromping troll has been my nickname for a few years. Don’t ask. But it has nothing to do with looks.)

Anyone have any inspiration they can pass my way to help? I’d really appreciate it!

Now that I have chosen my path of fantasy fiction editor, I’ve been discussing with James what I need to do to develop my new site, among other things. He’s given me lots of homework, which is great. Really.

I’m doing it right the first time, I’m ecstatic to say, though I’m finding it extremely difficult, and, yeah, lots of times I feel like running away screaming. (Did he say cold calling?!)

These last few days I’ve spent trying to visualize what I want. Following my last post about focusing on my clients’ needs rather than mine, I’ve been imagining a certain type of approach, and trying to specifically define the type of clients I want to target (demographics, basically, but also how they feel, what they think, what their problems are that I need to solve).

I’ve also been thinking about how I want the website to look, what widgets, features, colours, images, etc., it should include. This is all quite overwhelming, and I feel I need a lot of handholding, but I keep pushing because I want to. And because I have to. I can’t stand the guilt of not working often enough, as well as the general malaise I feel.

The most difficult part of all this has been trying to come up with a domain name for the coolest fantasy editor site ever. Fantasy Freak was the first domain name that came into my head. I’m not sure about it. I’m not sure if I should use certain keywords like editor or fantasy fiction or boring things like that. Or if I should have a name like Word Warrior, Dragonslayer, or CopyDemon.

Yes, I’m going for the younger crowd, say 20-40, and I’m going for cool (though of course quite capable), rather than serious and expert and winner of the World Fantasy Award. I’d like to keep my site as free as possible of the typical copy editor lingo.

Of course I want this business to take off and do well, and for me to be very busy and busily geeking it out with fellow writers and fantasy lovers.

But I can’t compete with those (few but very real) freelance editors who are hobnobbing with and telling RA Salvatore and David Eddings what to do. And anyway, I don’t really want to hang out at editors’ conferences and be up for editing awards. I don’t really want to sip tea with accomplished fantasy writers. Not really.

I’d rather hang with the writers who need me, where we can work together on getting something publishable but also chill with virtual slices of pizza and chat on the blog about RPGs we love as well as troubles we have creating fantasy names for our stories and whether or not a certain class of character would actually be able to wear more than studded leather armour.

I think it best that I put myself where I would feel most comfortable — that is, with those writers who feel like I do when it comes to writing their own stories. If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know exactly what that means. If I can empathize and truly intimately understand that keen sense of insecurity, fear, doubt, and shyness, combined with an intense desire to write, I can help.

My heart seriously warms at the idea of taking fledgling or frustrated writers by the hand and saying, Come. Let’s slay these dragons and fight the good fight. Let’s conjure up some magic.